SpaceX Crew Dragon: From Earth to Space and back! Take a ride!

ever pondered about the physics the engineering the sheer technical Brilliance that propelled spacex's crew dragon to the International Space Station ever wanted to take a seat and experience it yourself guess what I've got a ticket here just for you join me on your in-depth exploration into the intricacies of space travel I'll walk you through the power of the Falcon 9 the Precision necessary for a successful ISS docking and the science behind the controlled and safe re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on your own flight to the ISS and back from Launchpad to low earth orbit from space Rendezvous to Splashdown I decode the complexities behind each stage of the mission as if you were a part of it all this isn't just a Marvel of modern science it's a testament to human Innovation join me as we peel back the curtain on spacex's technological tour the force together welcome to dragon's flight your SpaceX Odyssey let's Dive Right In [Music] my name is Felix welcome to what about it let's discover together how spacex's Dragon capsule became the space Uber on your very own flight to space welcome aboard our journey to the ISS begins at Cape Canaveral Air Force station's processing facility where every crew dragon is prepared for flight spacex's crew dragon is a complex Beast one Thruster just isn't enough to safely get to the ISS and back again we're not playing Luna Lander here spacex's capsule is equipped with 18 small Draco thrusters necessary for orbital Maneuvers and eight super Draco engines serving as a launch Escape system these engines utilize mono methyl hydrazine and nitrogen tactoxide highly toxic yet simple to use and extremely reliable compounds unlike Falcon 9 whose fueling occurs shortly before launch crew dragon's propellant toxicity necessitates the fueling to happen at the Air Force Station long before the actual flight you might recall that SpaceX initially planned to build a new capsule for every Mission reassigning the used capsule to Cargo missions afterwards this idea however was quickly scrubbed instead SpaceX decided to make all crew dragons reusable thus the majority of capsules here are refurbished ones that have been to space before currently in the Dragon's Den there are four Majestic beasts Endeavor resilience endurance and freedom although the company has halted the production of new capsules one crew Dragon called c213 is still under construction upon its completion in 2024 it will join the others to be fueled at the Air Force Station facility once ready crew dragon is transported to spacex's horizontal integration facility hangar at 4 it has launch complex 39a if you ever wondered it's that hanger right next to the pad currently this is the only launch pad in the world capable of launching crude SpaceX missions this may change soon though as spacex's Engineers are already working on outfitting another launch complex slick 40 with a special tower enabling SpaceX to perform additional crude launch opportunities and to have a backup for let's say if a Starship spontaneously decides to have a blast at pad 39a in the future once the capsule arrives at the lc39a's hangar it's hoisted and mated with Falcon 9's second stage and booster while NASA initially had reservations about SpaceX flying people on reused boosters over time these concerns faded away the crew 2 mission already reused the first stage b1061 which also launched the crew 1 astronauts into space the rocket now mated with the dragon is rolled out to the pad and erected unlike other companies SpaceX employs a meticulous approach to testing a single failure or launch Escape system activation would disrupt their launch schedule for months therefore most Falcon 9s undergo a static fire before each Mission showing spacex's commitment to safety and accident prevention after a successful engine test the vehicle is ready to launch with you and your crew on board for the purpose of this video and to keep it as easy to understand as possible we'll utilize the same profile as NASA's crew missions as flights like inspiration 4 were one-offs and they all will have different flight profiles during launch day the launch crew is busy to say the least Dragon preparations start approximately 5 hours before the liftoff as the capsule is powered on and configured for flight at around 4 hours and 5 minutes prior to ignition NASA hands you and your crew over to SpaceX their teams perform a series of critical pre-flight procedures including suit checkout but ensuring you and the other astronauts safety during your Voyage to space now we're getting closer to the moment every astronaut is looking forward to your nails are freshly tuned down and you're absolutely ready to risk it all true astronaut well done three hours and 15 minutes before liftoff you're escorted to launch complex 39a your means of transport a Sleek Tesla Model X marked with NASA's emblem which symbolizes spacex's modern and sustainable approach to space exploration did you know that you're driving up the very same ramp that is used to transport the rocket arriving at the tower you and your crew can take a quick glance at the sheer size of the rocket you're about to board selfie time then with approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes to lift off you ride the elevator by pressing the button that says space on it and then you enter the capsule excited there are more people involved in this than just you though let me introduce you to some of the unsung heroes of our space adventure the enigmatic figures dressed in black the SpaceX ninjas they are there to ensure that you're correctly seated comfortable and hooked up to your life support system think of them as your unusually dressed pre-flight attendants they sport their all Black Ensemble not for the cool Factor even though it definitely has that instead it's to prevent fod or foreign object damage imagine a nasty tiny screw for example playing havoc in space it doesn't take much you get the idea the crew Dragon 2 has covers to prevent fod once these are removed and all systems get a green light it's hatch closure time and yes it's as meticulous as you'd think you see we need that compartment as airtight as a drum to keep you safe any leakage and it's a disaster movie with you in the leading role waiting to happen pressure is raised slightly inside the capsule to confirm this process good seal confirmed now you are on your own roughly 17 minutes before the countdown reaches zero Dragon gets updated International Space Station coordinates this is followed by a crucial go no-go poll It's the final check to confirm that the dragon is ready to soar so what if something goes sideways in this final hour is there any Plan B for you to live another day of course there is if they hit a snag before a hatch closure you can make a quick exit courtesy of the towers elevator in case that elevator acts up you and your crew can zipline down via a high-tech basket system a nostalgic knot to the Space Shuttle era never change a working system the crew Tower is also equipped with a fire suppression system so that's one thing less to worry about once the hatch is sealed and the crew access arm retracts 42 minutes pre-launch the Escape Plan gets a bit more hollywood-like at T-minus 37 minutes the crew dragons escapes system is armed if the fueling process Sparks any trouble this Escape system faster than a firework can catapult the capsule away from the rocket even while it's still sitting on the pad comfortable not quite as the peak acceleration force you to have to endure during this Escape can reach over 3.5 GS but it undeniably beats the alternative of becoming a human toast in an explosion in your case and so far on every SpaceX crew Dragon launch everything goes according to the plan the final preparations mirror the standard Falcon 9 fueling procedure as both the booster and second stage are pumped full of liquid oxygen and rp1 you can feel the rocket come to life under your seat then the Moment of Truth lift off you and your Brave crew blast off into space excitement guaranteed but you see nothing yet just a minute later you encounter Max Q the point of Maximum Dynamic pressure here the spacecraft faces the greatest mechanical stress if there were any structural flaws in the rocket or the capsule Max Q would be the ruthless revealer then its pedal to the metal and following this Falcon moves into separation second stage ignition and first stage Landing so far so good you're alive by T plus 12 minutes dragon is set free and its nose cone is unlatched suddenly it's much more silent and much more weightless in your capsule but why does dragon need a nose cone and why open it so early into an up to 24 hour Journey brilliant question a little late into the flight but hey thanks for asking the nose cone serves a dual purpose it Shields the docking adapter Draco thrusters and the forward hatch as the rocket slices through the atmosphere while also maintaining an aerodynamic shape for a smooth flight but why open the nose cone so early well if it jams you can't duck with the station thus it's better to discover any potential hitches right of the bed instead of wasting precious hours only to realize docking is off the table on you go roughly 45 minutes post liftoff Dragon activates its Draco thrusters for a phase burn this maneuver raises the dragon's orbit close to that of the ISS now you can conduct Mission tests or just chill as the next Thruster firing isn't slated until around the 9 hours and 50 minutes mark this time the Boost burn raises the spacecraft's apogee to be just 10 kilometers or 6.2 miles under the ISS a short 40 minute break later Dragon performs another burn to circularize the orbit meaning that its orbital apogee and perigee closely mirror each other depending on the flight profile several hours on a transfer burn takes place lifting dragon's apogee to a mere 2.5 kilometers or 1.55 miles beneath the station now we're getting to the spicy part once dragon is just 7.5 five kilometers or 4.66 miles away from the ISS I'm talking about distance not apogee another go no-go poll is conducted this safety check is needed because you're getting close to the so-called approach ellipsoid an x-shaped Zone measuring four by two by two kilometers or 2.5 by 1.5 by 1.5 miles When approaching this Zone dragon must maintain a safe trajectory ensuring that in the event of losing all its propulsion it would take 24 hours before you would pose a threat to the ISS this is a safety measure giving the team time to brainstorm an emergency plan in case something goes terribly wrong excited at this point Dragon establishes a communication link with the station allowing the earth-based mission control to receive the capsule Telemetry through the ISS as a backup once the capsule enters the approach ellipsoid it will be held at yet another Point way point zero it's what's known as the ISS keep out Zone a 400 meter or 0.2 mile diameter sphere that had identical function as the previous one this time the approaching spacecraft trajectory can't be on a crash course with the station for at least the next six hours or precisely four orbits assuming everything remains on track Dragon performs another burn taking you to Waypoint 1. position 220 meters or 722 feet from the station this is where the capsule aligns its own axis with the docking port axis of the ISS almost there now at present the ISS houses two docking locations compatible with the crew Dragon the forward and the Zenith ports of the ISS Harmony module have been retrofitted with International docking adapters a standard design that allows docking from vehicles of various private companies for now though both these ports are mainly used by SpaceX once Waypoint 1 is achieved Mission Control conducts another go no-go Pole to determine if you and the crew are safe to dock with the station it should be clear by now that this approach phase is executed with Extreme Caution dragon is taking its step by step when being so close to the ISS should the signal be a go Dragon proceeds to Waypoint 2 a mere 20 meters or 65 feet from the station you can now see the ISS through your capsule windows Dragon slowly starts to approach the docking port docking itself is divided into two steps first A specialized ring catches the capsule completing a step known as soft capture the system then draws the capsule closer allowing 12 hooks to latch onto the station in a process known as hard capture which completes the second step all these complicated Maneuvers are done fully autonomously by the spacecraft itself leaving you to Simply monitor the data and enjoy this stands in contrast to the original Dragon which used a system known as birthing in that case Canada arm 2 the robotic arm attached to the ISS would latch onto the vehicle once it neared the docking port and astronauts on board the ISS would manually dock it upon completion of further check marks you the spacecraft Commander then pressurized the vestibule a space between the ISS and crew Dragon protecting both teams from the void of space during this time data and video umbilicals are also connected following a final leak check dragons forward hatch is at last opened and you are welcomed into the station by the ISS crew the time from liftoff to docking can span from 16 to 24 hours you might wonder how dragon can take a full day to reach the ISS while the record time for a soyuz capsule is just 3 hours and 3 minutes or merely two orbits the truth is if SpaceX and NASA so desired they could reduce this time to single digit hours however us Cosmos has an edge here due to its extensive experience the entire soyuz family has already scored over 140 crude missions they've had ample opportunity to refine their Rendezvous plans for Speedy docking in the iss's early days soyuz took nearly two days to dock over time this period has been whittled down reaching a six hour docking time and eventually a three hour docking window spanning just two orbits NASA octora cautious approach favoring long longer Maneuvers that offer better control and additional response time in case of an emergency that doesn't mean that we won't see faster docking times in the future once dragon is securely docked astronauts typically remain on the ISS for about 6 months spacex's taxi has the capability to stay in space for 210 days when docked at a station and 10 days in Free Flight it probably won't surprise you that crew Dragon also possesses the capacity to relocate from one docking port to another autonomously as a fun fact you and your crew still must be on board during this operation as any emergency could potentially leave you stranded on the station now let's get to the hard part after the mission's conclusion you must somehow return to Earth so let's pack our bags and head back home once the weather on Earth is good enough and a primary and backup Landing sites are chosen by the mission control our dragon is ready to return home after packing all the necessary gear and cargo use settle into your seats the door is closed and dragon releases its hold on the international docking adapter next a sequence of burns is carried out in quick succession to distance itself from the station the first of these Maneuvers is the depart burn zero taking place immediately after undocking for 16 seconds the Draco Thruster is situated in the front of the capsule are engaged moving the capsule in an upwards direction away from the station five minutes post unducking depart 1 commences a brief 21 second firing that clears the keep out and approach spheres this is followed by a series of mission-specific burns determined mostly by The Chosen Landing site dragon has to aim for the right spot down there but where can you park a dragon where is a crew Dragon allowed to land we have seven parking spots available for you right now SpaceX is equipped to facilitate capsule Splashdown at seven different sites located of Florida's East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico these are the sites available to you and your fellow Brave astronauts the one that's best for each flight and each slightly different situation is chosen getting closer to home and regardless of the flight profile chosen you hear a clunky sound and the trunk is jettisoned five minutes before the deorbit burn begins to prevent the capsule from colliding with it during atmospheric re-entry following the trunks jettison the 12-minute deorbit burn starts once again utilizing Draco thrusters located inside the nose cone of the capsule why doesn't SpaceX just use the super Draco engines for this phase they are extremely powerful and since they are pointing down already the capsule wouldn't need to adjust its attitude would that be faster let's see while it is technically doable super draco's weren't designed for space operation meaning that they have low efficiency in a vacuum additionally they are beasts a single super draco's raster provides 177 seven times the thrust of a standard Draco such a burn would need to be incredibly short merely a second or two anyone who has played Kerbal Space Program knows exactly how easy it is to overshoot your target during such short Burns using lower thrust engines makes precise Maneuvers much easier and safer to execute once this burn is completed the Draco thrusters are no longer required so the nose cone is again closed and latched minutes later the most daunting phase of your entire Journey Begins it's not the launch it's the atmospheric re-entry several factors make this part particularly challenging as Dragon enters denser portions of the atmosphere it does so very fast I mean really fast you're streaming through the sky its orbital speed is around 27 000 kilometers or 17 000 miles per hour that is 20 times faster than a bullet shot from a pistol imagine moving at this speed toward the upper layer of our atmosphere this needs to be shaved down to a mere 560 kilometers or 350 miles per hour within about 7 Minutes courtesy of atmospheric drag during this process the capsule compresses the air in its path a shock wave forms around the capsule this shock wave is what excites and significantly heats the gas molecules in the air around the capsule temperatures can escalate so much that the gas molecules dissociate into separate atoms and ionize forming a plasma imagine sitting inside of an extremely hot plasma Cloud this glowing plasma is what gives re-entering spacecraft their fiery experience although this may sound useful all the energy from re-entry must be dissipated to prevent the vehicle from burning up and getting ripped into pieces to avert this crude Vehicles typically employ ablative heat shields while there are other methods of dealing with this heat such as active cooling these are currently in the realm of experimental technology go Stoke space looking at the Dragon capsule you'll notice numerous heat tiles to comprehend why they are used it's necessary to understand how ablative shielding Works an outer layer of an ablative heat shield is engineered to slowly burn away in a controlled manner carrying the intense heat of re-entry away from the spacecraft the ablated material forms a boundary layer of cooler gas serving as an additional insulation against the hot gases flowing past the spacecraft SpaceX uses an ablative material called phenolic impregnated carbon ablator or Pika X3 for short for short it's their own derivative of NASA's Pika which was utilized for Missions like Stardust and Mars perseverance fun fact reportedly Elon musk's version is 10 times cheaper than the original during re-entry when plasma engulfs the vehicle the spacecraft enters what's known as a blackout period it's the most nerve-wracking part of the entire Mission since all Communications are blocked this means Ground Control can't monitor dragon's Telemetry and you have to pray everything is proceeding as planned fortunately this phase only lasts for an agonizing 7 to 10 minutes once the vehicle decelerated enough at an altitude of 5.5 km or 3.4 miles dragon deploys two drogue parachutes it's accompanied by a loud noise you won't miss it these small parachutes are designed to orientate and stabilize the vessel as well as slow it down enough to enable the deployment of the main parachutes when the capsule slows down to 450 kilometers or 280 miles per hour at an altitude of 2 kilometers or 1.25 miles the main parachutes are deployed these shoots further slow the vehicle down to 25 kilometers or 15.5 miles per hour after which the capsule lands in the water and one of the landing sites the crew Dragon parachute system is designed to operate safely even with one shoot out meaning the capsule can land safely with only three parachutes here's the next important question can Dragon at least use its super Draco engines as a backup Landing method I mean remember 170 times the thrust of a draco unfortunately that's not feasible either in the past Dragon was actually supposed to land using its engines but as you've probably already guessed NASA wasn't particularly fond of this idea especially considering the proven safety of parachute systems while Elon Musk did mention in 2019 that such a landing would be possible to my knowledge the Dragon software does not include any Landing modes that involve the use of its engines so even if they wanted to the Dragon capsule would be missing the programming code to execute the maneuver opting for the traditional water landing simply offers greater safety however it doesn't necessitate additional efforts to recover the capsule let's stay in character after all you're not home yet right Splashdown you're in the Gulf of Mexico or in the Atlantic Ocean being happy you didn't burn up for this purpose SpaceX has a are two recovery vessels Megan and Shannon to the rescue twin ships that are essentially mini operation centers complete with a full medical treatment facility communication radar lifting Crane and helipad once the capsule splashes down two smaller boats are deployed the first one inspects the Integrity of the capsule and ensures there are no toxic hypergolic propellant vapor is present simultaneously the second one retrieves the capsule's parachute which by this point has already detached then the main recovery vessel moves in and hoists the capsule onto the ship's deck next SpaceX Personnel fully equipped with protective gear seals the thrusters to prevent the toxic fuel from escaping venting equipment is then affixed to the nose cone to dissipate any residual hazardous fuel further finally the side hatches unlocked a protective piece is put in place and you are assisted in exiting the capsule after spending half a year in space even with daily exercises to mitigate muscle weakening astronauts can still struggle to stand on their own and hence they are often carried away I'll leave the decision to you if you could walk away from this on your own immediately following this you receive a medical checkup it's rare that anyone requires immediate medical attention but as the saying goes It's better to be safe than sorry finally you and your crew are transported by a helicopter to soar where you will eventually reunite with your family as for the capsule it is brought to Port Canaveral and later refurbished at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station details about the refurbishment process are somewhat scarce but we do know that the ablated Pika X heat shield is replaced as well as panels made from spacex's proprietary ablative material or spam for sort the parachutes are also changed once the capsule is ready it's refueled with mono methyl hydrogen and nitrogen tetroxide and the cycle you just went through restarts right now crew Dragon Endeavor holds the record for the most reused Dragon capsule with four flights under its belt theoretically one capsule can be reused up to 15 times and even though SpaceX has halted its production crew dragons are far from retirement NASA has already scheduled missions after crew 14 indicating that the dragon will likely serve as the ISS space taxi until the station's projected decommissioning in the 2030s in my opinion it's highly probable that it'll also play a significant role in the development of spacex's newest project Starship given the problematic nature of launching humans on this massive ship crew Dragon could be used to transport the crew from Earth to Leo where they can board the Starship now you understand the enormous amount of engineering needed to bring the dragon to space and back we hope you enjoyed your flight thanks for traveling with Y and SpaceX that's it for today remember to smash the like button and subscribe for more awesome content check out our app shirts in your favorite space nerd store a link is in the description and if you want to get even smarter about space and Rockets watch this video next to continue your journey thank you very much for watching and I'll see you again in the next episode retrofitted it's not so hard finally tetraxide heteroxide ha

Channel: What about it!?

Views: 218,915

Keywords: spacex, starship, spacex starship, elon musk, elon musk spacex, spacex rocket launch, starship launch, starship rocket, starship rocket launch, boca chica, starship live, raptor engine, starship explosion, spacex launch, spacex starship update, spacex starship test, felix schlang, spacex news, WAI, spacex super heavy, starship orbital launch, starship test flight, starship flight test spacex, Starship Flight 2, starship flame trench, crew dragon, SpaceX Crew Dragon

Id: nJXydGaiOgY

Length: 26min 57sec (1617 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 01 2023